The Titan's Name
by Bri Nara
Summary: There once was a titan who lived in confusion. His memories were hazy until one day most of it came back to him. While he still doesn't know the whole story, he still has a goal in his mind: don't let his friends get hurt. Titan!Marco AU
1. Little Creatures That Look Like Titans

**Wall Titania Productions**

_Eagerly jumping onto the Titan!Marco AU bandwagon because god do I love this AU. There needs to be more fics, I swear. I know it doesn't start out with Jean but, please, be patient! He's coming soon! I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin._

* * *

He couldn't remember much.

He could remember quite a few sounds. The sounds of whizzing about through the air and gas. The sound of chatter and laughter.

Then the sound of panic and screaming and crunching and pain.

He didn't like remembering those sounds.

In his head, he managed to distinguish quite a few voices. A few faces. Well, he couldn't connect which voice belonged to which face, but he was grateful that he could think at all with that great, muddled mind of his.

What else did he remember...

He had a name.

He couldn't remember what it was, but he was certain that at some point he had a name.

That's how he spent most of his days: wandering about the forest whilst trying to get a solid thought to form.

There was one day, however, that something drew him away from his fragmented memories. He was at the edge of the Forest of Giant Trees when he saw a curious sight.

There were little creatures sitting atop animals running by. The creatures looked vaguely like the other beings like him in this forest only much smaller. Most of their skin was covered. They had green things flapping in the wind behind them.

He was filled up with excitement.

What _were_ they? How could they look like him and yet be so little? What did they sound like? What did they smell like? What did their faces look like up close? What did they taste like? He had to know!

Once they were all in the forest, he backed away from the tree he was peeking behind and started following them.

He took care not to collide with the trees, as they might crush the little things. They started moving faster and a few of them started screaming.

A frown made its way to his face. Why were they making that noise? Were they scared? Why were they scared? He wasn't going to hurt them. Animals weren't scared of him, how come these little things were?

He was getting closer and closer to one of them. It had bright hair and it was the one who was screaming. He'll take a look at that one.

He accidentally took a step that was too close to it, however, and made it fall off his animal to the ground. Now was his chance.

He wrapped his fingers around it clumsily. He lifted it off the ground and brought it closer for examination. It was... male? Was that the word for it? Below the mop of bright hair, he had wide blue eyes.

He, the little creature, was flailing about in his grip. He was using his feeble arms to try and push the fingers off of him. His eyes were bulging out and his mouth was open like a fish out of water.

He tilted his head in confusion. Was his little thing broken? Did it have something to do with his fingers?

He loosened his grip. When it felt like the smaller being was about to slip, he awkwardly rearranged his hands so that he was sitting in his cupped hands.

His little thing took in deep breaths. He turned his gaze up to him, his expression changing. To what, it was a mystery to the one holding him.

At last, he decided to figure out what his little bright-haired creature tasted like. Would it have a nice flavor because it was brightly colored? He began to bring his hands up to his mouth.

"Wait!" the little creature cried out from his palms. "Don't eat me! Wait! _Stop!_"

He froze.

That voice. That _voice._

It was one of _those_ voices that he remembered.

He brought the boy up quickly, not to his mouth, but to be be level with his eyes. He nearly fell off and let out a yelp of surprise at the action. He was looking at him with the same amount of shock and confusion.

That face... It was also one of the faces he remembered. Did he... know him?

No... This is the first time he'd ever seen something like this bright-haired little creature that was similar to him...

_Human._

He suddenly felt a throb of pain in his head. He winced and let out a small grunt of pain. The little creature, _human_, tried to scoot away from him in alarm.

_Walls._

He pressed a hand against his head in a futile attempt to push back the pain.

That's right... They were surrounded by walls. Wait, 'they'? Who were 'they'?

_Humanity._

_Friends._

_You._

The human in his hand leaped off and whizzed away with the strange metal thing around his waist. He went out of his reach on a tree branch. But the other didn't care at the moment.

He let out a scream. His palms were squeezing against his temples and he was down to his knees on the ground. His head felt like it was splitting in half with all the information suddenly being shoved into it yet he knew there were still several parts missing.

_Their size. Walls. Military. Top Ten. Military Police. Safe. Scouting Legion. Danger. Jinae. Serve the King. Trainee Corps. Friends. Jean. Armin. Connie. Sasha. Eren. Mikasa. Annie. Reiner. Bertholdt. Christa. Ymir. Mina. Thomas. Daz. Invasion. Trost. Screaming. Dying. Panic. Crunching. Good Leader. Pain. So much pain._

_Monsters._

_You used to be human._

Hot tears welled up in his eyes.

_Used to be. Used to be. Used to be._

He could remember his friends. All those conversations... with his _friends_. Those voices and faces were them. The little blonde human was one of them.

Names... Names... What were the names? He could remember them all clearly except for their _names_.

He couldn't remember the names of those monsters that he was supposed to be fighting alongside them.

...He couldn't even remember his own name.

No matter how much he racked his brain for it, he couldn't remember it.

He lifted up his head. The blonde human should know! They used to... what was it?... pick apart the metal things that let them fly about together.

He was about to ask him what his name was... however, the human was already gone.

**Damn, that's one hell of a muse. Over a thousand words in 24 hours.**

**Anyways, review, please!**


	2. You Have to Hide

_*Writes like the wind while the muse is still fresh*_

_Thank you for the nice reactions I got once I woke up in the morning! I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin._

* * *

Armin was making his way through the trees to catch up with the others as fast as he could.

He could hardly believe what had just happened.

A titan _didn't _eat him. It merely observed him. Granted, it did nearly break his ribs in the process but it could have been much much worse.

And more to that, the way the titan reacted once it got a good look at him.

Then above all else...

He needed to tell someone.

He could see that the group was below him. In the back, Armin could see the mop of sandy hair over an undercut.

Jean.

If anyone needed to know about this, it was Jean.

"Jean!" Armin could see him look around in confusion before glancing up and seeing him. He tried to move aside so that there would be more room on the horse. Armin swung himself closer, and grabbed the hand Jean held out to him so that he could get on.

"Armin!" Jean said. "What the hell happened? I thought that titan back there got you!"

"It did, but that's not important right now!" Armin said urgently. "Did you get to have a good look at it while it was chasing us?"

"No, because I was a little more focused on other things, like _not_ dying."

"Jean, it didn't eat me."

"Well, that much is obvious."

"No, I mean, it grabbed me," Armin said seriously, trying to get his point across. "It looked me over. I told it not to eat me, _and it didn't_."

Realization spread across the other's face as it finally clicked. "So... You think it's someone like Eren?"

Armin nodded. "Yeah. Also," he frowned slightly, "it looked familiar." He saw Jean's eyebrows go up. "'Someone from our trainee corps' familiar."

"One of us?" Jean thought for a moment. "Is it Mikasa?" That would explain how she was so strong.

"No."

Then Jean figured it would be someone more average if _Jaeger _was a shifter. "Connie?"

Armin sighed. "No, Jean."

"If you say it's Reiner, I swear to god-"

"I think it might be Marco."

Jean's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open. There was nothing but pure disbelief in his eyes. Then his face melted into a dark scowl. "That's not funny, Armin."

"Nor am I joking, Jean."

"Marco..." He sucked in a breath to get the words out. "Marco is _dead._ I saw the body."

"I'm telling you, that titan looked like Marco. Same eyes. Same hair. Its face even looked like Marco's, right down to the freckles-"

"_Armin!_" Jean snapped. He felt the smaller boy flinched behind him. "Sorry. Just... forgive me when I say that I won't believe you until I have some solid proof first. It's... not good to raise a guy's hopes like that first."

"...Alright, Jean." Armin kept his mouth shut while his mind started trying to figure out how this could have happened.

Jean, however, was denying the whole thing.

Marco? A titan? Impossible.

With Eren, he could accept because he was never exactly best buddies with that guy. And he'd only seen him as a titan, what? Twice maybe?

But Marco? How would he even begin to deal with that?

That's when the rumbling sound of giant footsteps began.

* * *

His entire body was shaking as he finally brought himself to his feet.

He finally pulled himself together enough to realize, if one of his friends was here... did that mean the rest of them were here too?

But... since _he_ was here... and this didn't look like... dammit, what was the word for those... safe places inside the walls... it was dangerous for his friends to be here!

There were other mon- beings like him here! Ones that would eat them without a second thought!

He was about to take off running to go protect his friends from whatever danger they could be in when he remembered something mid-step.

He had no idea what direction they were in. He didn't see where the bright-haired human flew off to.

Um... let's see... if they were going... _that _way on their animals... maybe they were still in that general direction? He figured it was better than nothing.

After several minutes of running in that direction, he thought he heard something.

The sound of others like him.

They had never really interested him and now that he remembered what they did to humanity, he definitely didn't like them.

He was about to go around where they were when he heard something else.

Humans flying about through the air with their cables and gas.

His eyes widened in fear as he approached. Were they okay? Were they all okay?! He hoped they were okay!

He could see at least three beings like him surrounding the group of humans. The bright haired one was among them.

He was about to go in and try to lure the danger away when one of the humans flew around one of the beings. Suddenly, he headed straight towards the neck of the being and swung his swords. With a roar, it went down in a steaming mass of flesh.

He stared with awe at the human who took it down. He had a familiar face and hair that was two different colors. He was a friend. He felt a sharp sting in his head.

_Your _best _friend._

His best friend could do _that_? B-But the being was his size! It could have easily crushed the human with merely a hand, like he almost did to the bright-haired one! Not to mention...

He reached up and let his fingers brush the nape of his neck.

_Your weakness._

He gulped.

That's right... Humans hated the monsters like him...

He wanted to see his friends but... wouldn't they be mad if they saw him like this? Would they hate him? Would his best friend kill him like he did to the other monster just now?

He swallowed the tears and the tightness in his throat that were forming.

He could worry about that later. Right now, he had to focus on helping them.

...Hopefully without letting them see him.

He emerged from the trees and worked fast. One of the beings didn't even reach up to his knee, so he merely stomped on it until it started steaming (with immense dislike to the feeling of having it flatten under his bare foot). The other one, he charged behind it, opened his mouth wide (he felt a few things in his cheeks rip, but it was simply a sting so he ignored it), and bit the nape out of its neck.

He was about to try to catch his breath when he heard the bright-haired human shout out "Hey!" to him.

His eyes widened and he let out a whimper. He turned on his heel and went back into the shelter of the trees.

No, he couldn't let them see him.

He couldn't let them see what had become of him. He couldn't let them _fear _him.

He wished he could say sorry.

**Gotta strike this muse while the iron is hot because, _man,_ do I not want this muse to go away.**

**Review, please!**


	3. Pursuit

_Thank you for the positive feedback on this little fic of mine. I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin._

* * *

Were they moving again?

Good, they were moving.

He started weaving between the trees as quietly as he possibly could. He kept his distance following them this time, though he still kept them within his sight. He defeated any titan that tried to go near the humans, which was somewhat simple since many of them were smaller than him.

So long as the humans were in the forest, he'd protect them.

Once they were out... he didn't know yet.

Then, from the other side of the path, he saw more humans heading toward the first group.

Were they all together? There seemed to be around the same number of humans that entered the forest, give or take a few, so that was probably the case.

He felt slightly disappointed that he lost track of his friends in the crowd. Especially his two-toned-haired best friend...

He wished he could just remember their names already, he felt vaguely silly referring to them by just their hair colors in his head. Then, another part of him was asking him what else would he call them besides the obvious? Those 'names' were fine.

Suddenly, instead of just hearing the beat of the animals moving together, he heard the sound of cables and gas.

Getting closer to him.

He stopped in his tracks and looked up to the human who appeared in front of him.

* * *

"Really, Cadet Arlert?!"

"Yes. A 15 meter class deviant titan that didn't eat humans," Armin told Hanji. "It also fought other titans, like Eren did the first time that he was a titan. It's also been following us for a while now." Jerking his head back behind him to show where the titan was.

Hanji's face went serious. "A shifter?"

"I'm not sure. But either way it has intelligence. It would still be good for research, wouldn't it?"

Hanji's eyes brightened up as she thought of the possibilities. "And you're sure it's harmless?"

"Um... well, I wouldn't say _harmless _since it _is _still a titan, but-"

"Commander!" Hanji called out eagerly. "Permission to switch to the duty of luring a titan in?!"

Erwin started, obviously taken off guard by the question. Then his face was stern. "Hanji-" he began.

But Hanji had already jumped off her horse and used her 3DMG to vanish into the trees.

While she started swinging around, she listened for the telltale quaking footsteps of a titan. She was surprised when she heard none.

But there it was, she caught a glimpse of a huge figure moving behind the trees.

A smile spread across her face. Now that was interesting.

As she was approaching it, the titan stopped running. It stared at her with wide, brown eyes that reminded Hanji of a doe. After a few moments, it tilted its head to the side.

Hanji examined the strange titan. Hmm... Doesn't seem to have as much fat was typical titans, in fact it reminded her of Eren's titan form a bit. It stood at 15 meters, just as Armin had said. There were patches of skin missing along its body; including its face, as Hanji could see its teeth through holes in its cheeks. There were dark rings around its eyes. And were those freckles? Fascinating! She had no idea titans could have freckles!

"Hello there," she said casually to it. Hanji lowered herself to another branch. She was within the titan's reach but it didn't move to grab her. In fact, she could have sworn it flinched away. _This _was certainly a first! "No! No! I'm not going to hurt you! See?" She put her blades away and held up her bare hands. She was still, however, prepared to attack it should it try anything. "Now," she said, "can you tell me why you were following our formation?"

The moment that she mentioned the formation, the titan's eyes darted away from her in alarm. Once it saw that they were getting further away, it made a small panicked noise and began running once again.

"Hey! Wait!" she called after it.

She chased after it, noting the increase in speed to its running. It had a specific target in the formation?

It glanced over its shoulder at her and its eyes widened. It started running even faster, not caring for stealth anymore. Its hands reached up and clasped over the back of its neck.

That was it! This was most definitely a shifter!

She started to come at it from the left, which caused the titan to start running more to the right. Hanji finally had a means of leading it into the trap. She continued to push the unknowing titan towards it until she finally saw the cannons.

"Fire!" Erwin ordered.

Upon the sound of the first cannon firing, the titan quickly moved one of its arms to cover up its face. It let out a cry of pain as the hooks and cables embedded themselves beneath it's skin. Cables pulling at its body from all directions restricted it from movement.

Hanji heard someone manuver their way onto the branch she was standing on. She glanced at whoever it was to see that it was just Moblit

"We did it, Squad Leader," Moblit sigh of relief.

Hanji crossed her arms whilst examining the titan in their hold. "Not quite."

Moblit's eyebrows went up in puzzlement. "Huh?"

"Why did it protect its face?" she wondered out loud. Titans, even titan shifters to an extent, show little regard to their own safety. Yet this one demonstrated the basic human instinct to protect its face. Strange.

"Levi!" Hanji called out. "Try to cut the shifter out!"

Levi emerged from the trees and charged forward. With merely a slice, the hand that was firmly clamped over the titan's weak point fell uselessly. The titan let out something dangerously close to a whimper. With a swing of his arms, Levi removed a portion of skin and flesh from the titan's neck.

It let out a roar of pain. Loud enough for the ground to feel like it was shaking and for soldiers to slam their hands over their ears. The titan began the struggle against the cables bounding it. Its injured hand moved feebly in an attempt to ease the pain in its steaming neck.

Levi didn't cut in deeply enough to kill it. He simply cut the same depth he did to cut Eren out of his titan. He looked around for the torso of a human buried in the titan flesh, but he didn't see any.

"Hey!" he shouted out. "This isn't a shifter! It's just some deviant!"

"What?!" Hanji exclaimed.

Just some deviant. A titan that didn't kill, exercised stealth, demonstrated intelligence _and_ awareness of it's own safety was _just_ some deviant?

"We're taking it with us," she said seriously.

"We're _what_?" Moblit said nervously.

Yes, this titan was very _very _interesting.

**Sorry this is a tad later than the other chapters!**

**Review, please!**


	4. You Are

_I really really like this muse. Don't own Shingeki no Kyojin._

_Um, this probably won't be a pairing fic. At the most it'll be ambiguous because I suck at writing romance on purpose. But apparently I can create feels on accident so there's the chance that this can turn into a pairing fic without warning.  
_

* * *

The human with glass in front of her (his? their? It was hard to tell, so he just settled for calling the human female) eyes was pacing around in front of him.

He was moved from the forest to this small pen near a building that had the same symbol that everyone had on their jackets. The place looked orange in the afternoon sun. His body was pinned down to the floor with ropes, so the only thing he could move was his head. Many of the humans he had seen after being captured had averted their eyes from him or looked at him in cold ways; particularly one that seemed to have fire in his eyes that he recognized as one of his friends.

While that made him a bit sad, he was still trying to stay in a good mood. At least he was still alive, right? He still managed to avoid having his best friend see him. None of his other friends seemed to have recognized him either. Finally, not all the looks he received were cold; his bright-haired friend and the Glass-Eyed Lady only looked at him with wide-eyed curiosity.

In fact, the Glass-Eyed Lady was _talking_ to him. He'd make a huge effort to listen out for her name later. He didn't know her from back when he was a human, but, man, did he wish he did, because he really liked the way she moved around with such _energy_ and fearlessness before him.

His huge brown eyes followed her as she walked around with a finger in the air. Occasionally, she'd get a bit too close to him for the comfort of a tired-looking man, so she'd be subtly nudged away from him.

"Back in ancient times before the Walls," she began. Several soldiers had groaned behind her. "There were many different societies of people. Thousands of different cultures and even more kinds of people. A few of them had their own systems of religion, with multiple deities! Though unlike the three goddesses praised here within the walls, each of them was a god of a certain aspect of life. There was a god of thunder, a goddess of love, a goddess of hunting, a god who brings the sun across the sky, a god of death, a goddess of maternity and so many more.

"However, there were two deities for war. One represented intelligence and strategy; here are us humans struggling to gain some intelligence on the enemy. Then the other one was often prayed to to grant one physical strength in battle; your kind was able to bring us to the brink of extinction with nothing but size and brute strength.

"Now, I'm going to name you after this god of war."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

He already had a name, why was she giving him a new one? He'd prefer to find out his old one.

She stopped and pointed a finger directly at his face. "You will be Ares!"

He nearly scoffed at the name once she turned around.

Well, _that _certainly wouldn't stick.

The Tired Man's eyes widened. "Um... Squad Leader? Squad Leader!"

"Hm? What is it?"

"It... Ares just reacted," he said while pointing to 'Ares'.

Were they _really_ going to call him that?

"He did?!" she would've ran up to him if the Tired Man hadn't grabbed onto the collar of her jacket.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. Maybe the timing of it made it seem like he reacted to his name?"

"Maybe, maybe," she glanced back at him then back to the Tired Man. "We'll see if it was a coincidence or not when we start the routine experiments tomorrow morning."

He tilted his head slightly in curiosity. Experiments? He couldn't remember what the word 'experiment' meant.

Everyone started walking toward the exit. Some of them were chatting to each other over previous 'naming ceremonies' while others were just expressing relief over not having to stand guard that night.

He started to get worried. Was he going to be left alone here? He didn't want to be left alone! He didn't feel as confused as before he saw the humans, so what would happen if they left?

Then, when the crowd was thinning, he noticed three soldiers come into the gates. The Bright-Haired Boy, the boy with fire in his eyes, and... his best friend!

His eyes widened in horror. What were _they _doing here? He couldn't let them recognize him! But there was nowhere to hide! He started struggling against the ropes around his arms, but it was no use. He started to panic.

Come on! Think! You have to hide! Do something! Anything!

There wasn't much he could when he could only move his head.

Wait. Wait! That was it!

Without warning, he slammed his face to the ground. All of the remaining soldiers jumped in surprise and he could hear the voice of his best friend shout "W-What the hell?!" He could hear the drawing of blades and shouts of fear but he didn't look back up. His nose was pressed uncomfortably against the ground, but he didn't look up.

So long as he stayed like this until his friends left, they wouldn't recognize him and they wouldn't hate him! In his hazy and fear-addled mind, this was an excellent plan.

"What is it doing?" the voice of his best friend asked.

"I don't know," the Glass-Eyed Lady answered. "I can't tell what would trigger such strange behavior. Almost everything about him is strange."

"Wait a second! Eren, what are you doing here? I thought you were on kitchen duty."

"Actually, there was a last minute switch to assignments. Eren and Armin get first shift in guarding Ares while _you_ have kitchen duty."

"Huh. Well, fine by me. I'd rather be on kitchen duty than guard some stupid titan all night anyways."

He let out a small upset rumble. Stupid?

Wait. Ti...tan? What was a... titan? Him?

"Goodnight, Jean!"

"See ya."

The name tickled at something in the back of his mind. Fond memories with the man he called his best friend for those three years of training. He felt like smiling. Jean. What a nice name.

He heard the most of the footsteps fade away. When he thought he was alone, he slowly lifted up his face from the dirt.

However, the Bright-Haired Boy and the Fire-Eyed Boy were still there.

He quickly lowered his face back down to the ground. His heart was pounding.

Yeah, he would've loved to take back his thoughts about being alone from earlier. It was much more preferable than just waiting to be discovered.

"Wait! Wait!" the voice of the Bright-Haired Boy called out. "Lift up your head!" He heard him run up to him. "Please? You don't have to hide from us!"

"What are you doing?!" the Fire-Eyed Boy yelled. "Get away from it! You're going to get yourself eaten!"

"He didn't eat me last time!" he protested.

"You told me it almost did though!"

He... He sadly couldn't deny that.

"But Eren, he recognized me. It's _him_."

"It can't be him..." the Fire-Eyed Boy said sadly. "I know you took it hard, we all did, but... Armin, he's dead."

"I thought the same thing about you and look how that turned out," the Bright-Haired Boy said seriously. The other fell silent while his friend went back to getting the immobile giant's attention. "Hey! Look at me! I know you can understand me! Just let us have a look at you."

He remained motionless.

The human sighed. "I know it's you. What's the use in trying to hide anymore?" He felt a small hand on his head. "We... We want to see our friend again. It doesn't matter what form he's in... because no matter what, he's still him."

He was still him? He was still... the same person he was when he was human? It didn't matter to his friends?

Slowly and cautiously, he lifted his head up to look at them.

The Fire-Eyed Boy's face contained nothing but shock as the resemblance between him and the human he once was finally dawned upon him. The Bright-Haired Boy was smiling and his eyes were filled with... water? Why did he have water in his eyes? From what he remembered, people only had water in their eyes when they were scared or really really sad! Was he scaring him? He didn't mean to scare him! He tried to convey an apology through his sorrowful brown eyes.

"You recognize us, don't you? It's us." He sniffed as he pointed to him then the other boy. "Armin... and Eren."

The names finally plugged themselves into place in his memories. Eren and Armin. Eren Jaeger whom he talked to and always gave a helping hand to. Armin Arlert whom he used to fix the metal things with and who fought alongside him in that place called Trost.

He could see water appearing in Eren's eyes too. No, no, no! He didn't want to upset them! What did he do to comfort people with water in their eyes before? He... He used to say comforting words to them, but could he do that now?

He opened his mouth; both boys instinctively flinched. He tried to ignore that and started trying to get his mouth to form words.

"Aaa..." Did his voice always sound like this? "Aaaa... mmmiii..." He didn't remember talking being this difficult before. Maybe it was because of what he was now? "Aaa... Aaaamiii...!"

Armin's eyes widened in surprise. "A-Are you trying to say my name?"

He smiled and nodded. He glanced over at Eren. Maybe he'd have better luck saying his name. "Eehh... reeeh..." He thought it'd be easier saying a shorter name, but it was just as hard. "Iii... ookaa..."

The garbled noises his throat were making could hardly be counted as speech, but the two seemed to understand his intent. They both ran forward and threw their arms over as much of him as they could.

They were trying to hug him. But he couldn't hug them back. He tried to return the hug the best that he could by nuzzling them.

The muffled name they kept repeating was soon drowned out by the water from their eyes.

**You can tell I had too much fun writing this chapter based on the fact that it's nearly twice the usual length.**

**I picked the name 'Ares' because I did check and the name 'Marco' does indeed relate to war. And I've seen several fics where Hanji's name game is weak! Not saying she was out of character in those fics, but have you _seen _canon!Hanji? She named a pair of titans after a cannibal, for Pete's sake! She can do better than naming something after an obvious physical trait!**

**Anyways, review, please!**


	5. You Are Not

_Thank you to all those reading this fic._

_Um, to answer the first question: This fic is set in a sort of non-canon timeline that takes place between chapter 34 (the end of the anime's first season) and 35 of the manga. Thus the immediate suspicion that they're dealing with a titan shifter. While I won't give out spoilers, I have put in a few jokes and lines that those who have read the manga can at least chuckle at (something said in chapter 2 for example)._

_As for the second question, the pairing would probably be Jeanmarco._

_I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin._

* * *

He finally discovered what 'experiment' meant.

'Do something reckless and dangerous to see what would happen.'

The experiments began about two weeks ago, right after he finally got reacquainted with Armin and Eren. He was told that these were routine and that every... titan... that they managed to have under their care went through them. But that didn't really comfort him one bit.

Hanji, the Glass-Eyed Lady whom he discovered the name of when everyone screamed it out when they thought he would eat her, executed each experiment with great enthusiasm on her part.

They tested how long he could last without sunlight. He thought that nothing would happen, seeing as his recent memories didn't really show him what he did at night. But then, within three hours, he felt strange. It felt like that heavy feeling you have when you try to get up in the morning while you're still half-asleep. But, that couldn't be right. His kind didn't sleep, right?

He looked at Hanji with confused eyes as she started writing onto a clipboard. Hanji had glanced at him with a sympathetic smile and told him that the experiment would soon be over.

Another experiment they did was to test if he could feel pain, despite the obvious answer in the forests. For some reason, Hanji looked as pained as he was through the whole thing. She had screamed out apologies to him over his whimpers, much to his puzzlement.

One experiment he eagerly tried to participate in, however, was the communication test. Hanji let out a scream of joy once he attempted to talk. Though she immediately bombarded him with questions that he couldn't even answer, she didn't seem disappointed. She was just happy that he could register her words and told him to practice talking.

While he did practice, it was only around a certain few.

By now most of his friends had had at least one shift of guard duty and recognized him. While the initial reaction ranged from frantic screaming (Sasha) to pained and tearful denials (Connie and Bertholdt) to calm acceptance (Mikasa and Christa) to mild disbelief followed by joking familiarity so fast it made his head spin (Reiner and Ymir), each of them had made one thing perfectly clear.

None of them hated him like he feared they would. They seemed more concerned than angry about seeing him like this. It gave him a sense of relief.

A sense of relief for now, but it wasn't over yet.

Because Jean finally had guard duty tomorrow.

* * *

"I'm telling you!" Connie said. "He said my name perfectly!"

"Hey, I was there with you," Ymir said with a smirk. "If you think that sounded anything like 'Connie', then you must be deaf."

"He almost said 'Sasha'. Alllmost."

"You guys, Marco isn't a baby," Christa said quietly. "Don't compete over whose name he's going to say first like he is one."

"We're sorry," Connie and Sasha said together.

"What we should be concerned about," Mikasa said, "is how he ended up this way."

"The last time we even saw him was in Trost..." Sasha murmured.

Reiner sighed. "Jean saw his _corpse._ How is he here?"

"And why as a titan?" Armin asked. "He was partially eaten by a titan. Could that have something to do with it?"

Sasha's eyes widened. "Armin, do you mean that anyone who gets eaten by a titan gets turned into one?"

Ymir scoffed. "Well, _that _would suck."

Mikasa cleared her throat and everyone's eyes shifted to Eren.

"Uh, no offense," Connie said quickly.

Eren shrugged his shoulders. "None taken. I'm just as confused as all of you are. I mean... _I _can change back but apparently he can't."

"At least, he can sorta talk unlike you," Armin said.

"Who can?"

Everyone turned to see Jean standing there with his tray of food in his hands. He had an eyebrow raised.

"The titan we had to guard," Armin answered.

"Oh." Jean frowned. "You don't still think it's Marco, right?"

Christa tilted her head. "But it is Marco. Didn't you know?"

Jean gritted his teeth together. "_No_, it isn't."

"Um, yes, he is."

"No, _it _isn't!"

"Yes, he is, Jean."

"No. It. _Isn't_!"

"Nope. That titan is definitely Marco," Ymir interrupted flippantly. "Get over it, Kirschstein."

"Ymir!" half of the cadets scolded.

However, Jean had already dropped his tray onto the table and slid it over to no one in particular. He walked away and grumbled "Not hungry anymore".

"Jean, wait!" Armin called after him.

When Jean didn't react to him, Eren put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll go talk to him."

"Eren, try not to yell at him and make it worse," he warned.

"For Marco's sake..." Christa said.

With a solemn look on his face, he nodded in silent affirmation. Then he chased after Jean.

* * *

It was sudden when it happened.

Everything looked normal and the guards on shift were standing a ways away from him.

Then he heard shouting. Jean and Eren's voices from just beyond the gates.

He frowned in concern. Why were they shouting? Were they just having a friendly argument like they used to have in training?

No... this sounded _too_ angry for that.

"For the last time, Eren, leave me _alone_! I _don't _want to see the damn thing and you're all _insan_e if you all believe that it's him!"

"It's better than being as blind as you are because it _is _him!"

He tilted his head slightly in confusion while he tried to piece together what they were talking about.

"Jean-"

"You know what I'm going to do tomorrow? I'm not even going to _look _at the thing just to spite you!"

Tomorrow? Jean had guard duty tomo-

Oh...

They were talking about _him_.

He let out a little grumble of disappointment and the guards glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow.

Jean didn't want to see him? Why? What did he do? Did he do something wrong?

"Jean, it has _his_ face!"

"And? Just because it looks like him doesn't mean it _is_ him! I heard the reports, it's not someone like you; it's just some goddamned titan with good timing!"

That wasn't true! It wasn't just timing! He could understand Jean perfectly!

Well, except... who did he look like? Who doesn't Jean think he is?

The pain seared through his mind once again. He jerked and groaned in pain. The guards looked up at him with wariness evident on their faces.

_You as a human._

But... That didn't make sense. He was still the same person he was when he was a human. Armin told him that. Eren told him that. Everyone told him that! Why didn't Jean believe it was him?

"Eren! He's dead! A titan won't bring him back no matter how much you all delude yourselves into thinking it is him!" Jean's voice was choked up. "Fuck, titans are the ones who took him away! So how _dare_ all of you insult his memory by believing that... that mindless _monster_ to be him?!" He could hear faint sobs from the other side of the gates. "I'm... I don't want to talk about this anymore, Eren. I'm going to bed."

And with that, the sound of Jean's voice disappeared.

Along with any certain he had about his sense of self.

Dead. What did he mean 'dead'? He couldn't be dead, he was right here! Titans didn't take him away, he was one now. He was still alive and the same person who was Jean's best friend!

But... If that were true, how come only his 'friends' recognized him? He would have followed them into whatever part of the military they were in, right? How come he didn't remember anything until after he first saw Armin? How come, even now, he couldn't remember anything after Trost? How come Jean said he was dead? He wasn't dead!

What if everything he remembered was fake? Or worse, they weren't even his memories?

That would make sense, wouldn't it? Find some mindless monster who looked like their deceased friend and make it act like him. Make it believe it _was_ him. You could pretend like you've found him again. Jean was the only one not in on it which was why he wasn't falling for it for a second.

Fuck, how could he be that human in his memories? He couldn't even remember the guy's _goddamn_ name.

A growl formed in his throat. He was mad. No, he was more than mad. What was the word?

Furious. _Betrayed_.

Everything felt heated. Steam came out in clouds from his mouth. The pathetic little guards stumbled back with fear in their eyes.

Then his whole world went back to the black darkness it was before he 'remembered' anything.

**(Chuckles darkly) I'm going to get yelled at for this. Meh. I've seen a scenario like this requested for many many different Titan!Marco fics that have yet to get around to it so... Ta-daaa! Huh. This was written very late/early so I'm not sure if it came out the way I wanted it to.**

**Review, please!**


	6. Marco Bodt's Name

_(Chuckles) The reactions I got were cute. It was hard to decide whose POV to put this in. I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin because if I did, a few characters I'm curious about would've gotten more screen time._

* * *

Every single member of the Scouting Legion heard a great, big roar.

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Glances were exchanged. And in an instance, there was movement again. The destination being the source of the noise.

Jean looked around in confusion. What the hell was going on?

Suddenly he felt himself being pulled in the direction of the roar. He saw Moblit with a determined look on his face.

"Cadet Kirschstein, we need all the help we can get. Come on!"

Jean nodded and started following him despite not wanting to deal with what was most likely the titan.

He didn't have to deal with it until tomorrow, so why was he being dragged into this? What was causing it to go berserk anyways?

So much for being the "gentle titan" that the others had described to him.

As he approached the pen where the titan was being held, he covered up his ears to block the din coming from there. There was shouting, near-constant thumps against the ground, and fierce growls coming from within. With stiff steps, he entered.

There were dozens of soldiers gathered around the sides of an enormous figure. It was struggling hard against the ropes that bound it, causing a few to snap. However, for even rope it broke, at least three more took its place. Steam poured out of its mouth each time it roared. There were orders being shouted and... the titan was being shouted at as well. Jean could see Sasha near the titan's ear yelling in its direction.

The titan happened to turn its face in his direction and Jean felt his stomach sink to the ground. The others were right in saying that the titan resembled Marco but right now, the expression it held made it nearly unrecognizable. Its teeth were exposed in a snarl and its eyes were dull and animal-like. Just like ever other damn titan Jean's ever laid eyes on.

Brown eyes stared hungrily at him. Jean swallowed hard and walked forward. Sure, he told the others and himself that there was no way this was Marco, but that didn't making him any less uncomfortable.

"Oy! Kirchstein!" one of the squad leaders barked. "'The hell do you think you're doing?!"

He stopped. He hadn't noticed where he was walking, so now he was a mere three meters away from the titan's face. The savage expression looked much worse up close. In fact, Jean could see the titan try to crane it's neck forward. It was slowly opening its mouth.

"Jean! Look out!"

Suddenly, the titan's mouth snapped shut. Jean jumped back with wide eyes. A part of his brain told him that was it. This is the end for Jean Kirschstein. That he just got munched on. But once he registered that he was still alive, that the jaws were still a good meter away, he looked up in confusion.

The look in its eyes were different than before. No longer dull nor hostile. Jean could emotion in there now. The titan seemed surprised. It was looking him over yet not like he was a meal. That scared him the most.

For a long while the two just stared at each other. None of their observers spoke as they wait for the events to unfold.

"Jah..." its deep voice was loud in his ears despite its hushed tone. "Jah... Jea...nn...? Jeeeaaan?"

Jean's eyes widened in shock.

It knew his name!

His legs suddenly felt weak.

The titan knew his name!

His head and heart felt heavy.

It _said _his name!

He collapsed to his knees. He brought a hand up to his mouth because, in all honesty, he felt like he was about to explode. Because if the titan knew his name... that could only mean one thing.

"M-Marco...?" he croaked out.

* * *

These _damn _little things were in his way!

He tugged harder against the ropes restricting his movement, but the little things kept throwing more on him.

They kept making so much noise too! Why wouldn't they just stop it already?

He was going to eat them once he got out of here. That should shut them up.

He looked up to the only place you could exit from. There were more little things coming in. This only provoked him to let out another grunt of frustration and struggle more.

He noticed that there was one little thing that wasn't moving. It was just standing at the exit with its mouth hanging open.

Hm. It wasn't bothering him. Perhaps he'd eat him last.

Then, it shut its mouth and started approaching him. It was going to do the same as the others were and not let him leave too.

He changed his mind. He was going to eat this little thing first.

He stretched his neck as far forward as he could. He was about to chomp down on it when something one of the little things shouted finally clicked in his mind.

"Jean! Look out!"

Jean?

He shut his mouth. Why did that sound seem so... _familiar_? He didn't understand anything else these little things said, so why did this seem so... so _right_?

He examined the little creature in front of him. It moved when that sound was made. Did that mean it knew it too?

A solid thought finally occurred to him.

...Could Jean be this little creature's... name?

How could he check? Could he makes the same sorts of sounds these little creatures made? He could try.

"Jah..." Come on. This was just like making normal sounds with your mouth but different. "Jah... Jea...nn...? Jeeeaaan?" That was close enough, he guessed.

Then, the little creature fell to the ground and slapped a hand over his mouth.

Was it broken?

"M-Marco...?" it questioned.

Marco?

That sounded familiar too.

_That's it!_

His body jerked as he tried to cringe in pain. Many of the ropes snapped but that didn't matter anymore.

_Marco! That's it! That's _my _name! Marco Bodt!_

_I have a name! I HAVE A NAME AGAIN!_

His face spread into a grin. For some reason, that made Jean retreat a bit from him.

Slowly and steadily all that occurred in the past few weeks came back to him. His smile fell as he realized what just happened. Why so many people were here. Oh god, he nearly hurt everyone. He was _trying_ to hurt everyone this time. His eyes felt hot and his sight started to get blurry.

"Marco?" He saw Jean start to feebly reach out a hand to him. There was water appearing at the corner of his eyes and he was almost smiling. "Marco...? Is that... you?"

No...

No... He wasn't Marco. Isn't that why this happened? Because Marco was dead? Because he was just some titan that looked like him? _Marco _certainly wouldn't try to harm his comrades.

He shook his head and the look on Jean's face fell. What he presumed was water from his own eyes splashed onto the ground.

"Na... Nooot... Maa... co..." he sobbed. "Jeeaan saaay... 'noooot... M-Maaa... co...' IIII... no...!"

He couldn't speak anymore as he started crying harder.

The trembling hand that Jean still had in the air inched just a bit more before it fell to the young man's side.

**This was going to be a bit longer, but it's late/early and I figure that part would better suit the next chapter. Pity, this felt like a really repetitive chapter.**

**Review please!**


	7. Jean Realizes

_Message from the author: Don't stay up late all the time, children, it does odd things to your mind. Last chapter was posted at five in the morning, so I apologize that it wasn't longer. But I had an idea for an extra scene that's now the beginning of this chapter (which is why the rest is rather subpar. Also... if it weren't depressing, there wouldn't be much conflict, would there? I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin and the titan!Marco muse belongs to the fandom._

* * *

Jean felt like shit.

Like he was the biggest shitsack who ever lived.

When the titan started crying... he couldn't move. Couldn't say sorry. Couldn't say anything. He just fucking sat there until Sasha managed to get him to his feet and walked him here to Hanji's office.

He was still just sitting there staring at the floor. His mind processing all the information that he just discovered not even an hour ago.

Number one: He was wrong. Very very _very _wrong and he had never been more grateful for that in his life. He would have to remember to believe every goddamn Armin says to him from now on.

Number two: Marco was alive again. Had it not been for number three, he would be ecstatic and with Marco right now and demanding the dumbass to _never _die on him again.

Number three: Marco was a titan. He was dangerous now. He easily crush him like Eren had tried to do to Mikasa once. He was mankind's enemy. He wouldn't be treated the same anymore, he might even be treated worse than Eren because some people won't see Marco as human at all.

And number four, which was currently making Jean feel guilty and cruel, was that Marco didn't believe he was Marco. He heard Jean say that he wasn't Marco and he believed him. If he didn't think he was Marco Bodt, then what was going through his mind right now?

What had he done?

He looked up when he heard the door open. Hanji came in followed by Armin. Hanji immediately rushed up to Jean, knelt down to his eye-level, and grabbed his shoulders.

"Kirschstein! Is it true that you managed to calm the titan down?!"

Jean numbly nodded his head.

"Could you fully explain to me what happened with you and the titan?"

Jean didn't respond. He didn't like the way that she was referring to his long-lost friend. As if he were just some titan that they had captured for their experiments, that they expected him to keep him tame like Levi was supposed to do with Eren. As if he were just some titan, period.

"Kirschstein? Kirschstein! Jean!"

"Excuse me, let me handle this," Armin said quietly to the higher officer. It was his turn to go down to Jean, but he was much calmer than Hanji was about it. His touch to Jean's shoulder was far more gentle. "Jean? Are you alright?"

Jean looked up into Armin's eyes. Determined blue met amber that was fighting back tears again. His response got caught in his throat, so the most he could do was shake his head. His eyes drifted back to the floor.

"He's in shock, Squad Leader," Armin explained.

"Hmm. Well, the eye witness reports I've received so far _did _say that Ares almost ate him. I suppose-"

"Marco."

Hanji looked away from Armin and back to Jean. His position didn't change, so for a moment she thought she imagined it. "Huh?"

"Marco Bodt," Jean corrected her. His voice was quiet. "That's his name."

Hanji's eyes furrowed in confusion until she finally registered who Jean was talking about. "But... he's... not a shifter. I understand that he's been practicing how to talk but... how could he give himself a name? Do all titans have names then?"

"He's _not _just some titan," Jean nearly growled.

"Allow me to explain," said Armin. "The reason why we believed him to be a shifter in the first place is because he bears an uncanny resemblance to someone who was in our trainee squad."

Hanji's eyebrows went up. "Eren, the Female Titan, and now this one... What is it with your squad and shifters?"

Jean shrugged.

"Anyways," Armin continued, "it appears that he remembers us and is in fact our old squad member. But..." He glanced over at Jean. "Jean didn't believe us until just now."

Jean buried his face in his hands. "I know... Now I've know I've fucked up. He doesn't even think he's Marco now and it's all my fault."

Armin's eyes widened. "What?"

Then, someone else burst into the room. A panicked Connie nearly sprinted over to the other two boys and dragged them out of the room.

"This is really bad guys! Nobody knows what to do about Marco!"

Hanji just stood there in a daze trying to let everything sink in.

* * *

Jean felt his numbness to the pain fade away as the sound of deep sobs reached his ears.

The others were gathered around Marco's head, trying to coax him into looking up at them. Jean couldn't see his face but he could tell that Marco was still bawling by the noise and the way his shoulders were shaking. His face was squashed against the ground as it was the first time that Jean ever saw him.

Jean's frown deepened as he finally registered what Marco was doing. Hiding.

"Hey," Jean said.

All the cadets turned to see the new arrivals while the titan froze. There was a whimper awfully close to sounding like the word "No" before he tried to curl up further. The creaks from the ropes proved that he was utterly immobile this time.

"H-Hey," Jean said as he approached Marco hesitantly. Everyone was giving him expectant looks. He wasn't really sure _what _they were expecting of him; he was never good with people crying. The circumstance now made it worse. "Uh... Stop crying?"

Yeah, like that haven't tried that before, Jean.

Marco shook his head and continued his soft sobbing.

Jean inched closer. "M-Marco..." he said, trying to get his tongue used to the name again.

The other shook his head more violently, causing Reiner and Eren to get knocked back. "NO!" he boomed. "NOOOT MAA... COO!" He started repeating the words over and over as more tears fell to the ground.

Jean grunted in frustration. "_Dammit_," he hissed. "Hey! You need to listen to me!" Jean smacked him at the top of the head. "Look at me, goddammit!"

Marco flinched away and lifted his head. His eyes round with surprise. It seemed he responded more to the contact rather than the order but what was important was that he was finally looking at Jean.

"What makes you think you're not Marco, huh?" Jean crossed his arms and tried to look as stern as he could in those big brown eyes. "You remember us. You act like him. You _look _like him. Where's the doubt from? Just because I said so? You're going to believe every damn word I say when I hadn't even seen you before today?"

The titan shook his enormous head with a near-ashamed look on his face. "Tiii..." His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Tiii... taaaan... Maacoo not tiitaaan..." His eyes shifted down to the ground. "III... tiitaaan."

"And?" Jean said bluntly. He jabbed a thumb toward Eren. "Eren can turn into a titan. That doesn't make him less of the pain in the ass known as Eren Jaeger." He ignored the glare that Eren directed at him. "I don't care if you're like this now! So please... stop crying. For us?"

He sniffled as he looked back up to Jean. "Saaa...rry..."

"No, don't be sorry. How can you be sorry when nobody knows what's going on?"

* * *

"So that's the situation then, Hanji?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmmm... I'll figure out what to do in a bit. But for now, let them have their moment."

**(Flops over) I'm sorry.**

**Review please.**


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